Distributed Control Systems (“DCS systems”) enable an organization to perform remote centralized controlling of various assets, processes, and alarm-related functions in an alarm-based environment. It is recognized herein that DCS systems available today, however, are highly complex and inflexible systems, making it generally difficult for operators to readily and sufficiently obtain information pertaining to understanding alarms, suppressing initiated alarms, identifying causes that initiate alarms, and/or resolving problems associated with initiated alarms.
Due to inherent limitations of conventional DCS systems, separate alarm management systems are typically implemented with DCS systems. For example, an alarm management system may operate as a standalone system and/or a connected system. In an example standalone system, an alarm management terminal is placed physically alongside a DCS terminal, which enables an operator to search the alarm management system to learn more about alarms displayed on the DCS terminal. In an example connected system, an alarm management terminal is typically serially connected to an adjacent DCS terminal so as to pull/retrieve/mirror alarms that are received/displayed by the DCS terminal. In these conventional approaches, however, the correct, effective, and timely configuring of alarms, understanding of alarms, suppressing of alarms, and identifying and resolving the cause(s) that initiate alarms generally lies in whole or in large with the experience, skills, and know-how of the specific operator(s) and/or operator team working at that time. It is recognized herein that problems not only arise from the actual root causes/bad actors of alarms initiated in an alarm-based environment, but also from the inherent variations in, among other things, performing correct, effective, and timely configuring, understanding, approaching, solving, and minimizing overall consequences caused by the problems that initiate the alarms, which in turn is a direct consequence of operator experience, skill, and know-how within and between organizations.
Furthermore, it is recognized herein that organizations often encounter problems in respect to determining an overall performance level of their DCS and/or alarm management system. For example, it is often difficult or impossible to accurately, effectively, and quickly determine an overall performance of the DCS and/or alarm system for one or more time periods and/or after a substantive event. A substantive event may include an upgrade or replacement of a DCS and/or alarm management system, and/or implementing a new or revised alarm management philosophy, alarm prioritization matrix, and/or industry standard. In practice, conventional approaches will be directed to formulating and testing specific test scenarios of certain known aspects, including those that are affected by a substantive event. Problems arise, however, due to the inability for such conventional approaches to determine an overall performance of the system, and/or how an overall performance of the system during one time period (or by one operator or group of operators) compares to an overall performance of the system during another time period (or by another operator or another group of operators).